EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery Management Plan 2002

Determination No. HIMIF TAC D5

Total Allowable Catch Determination - 2006/2007 Season

Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery

Subsection 17(6)(aa) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to determine, under the management plan for a fishery, the fishing capacity permitted for a Fishery, in respect of a particular period or periods.

The Fishery

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery Management Plan 2002 (the HIMI Plan) provides for the grant of statutory fishing rights (SFRs) as the vehicle for access to the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery (the Fishery). Under the HIMI Plan, a person must hold at least 25.5% of the total issued SFRs to fish in the Fishery. The quota allocated to a SFR for each target species and fishing year is worked out by dividing the total allowable catch for the species in the fishing year by the total number of SFRs in force for the species at the start of the fishing year.

Section 11 of the HIMI Plan provides for AFMA to determine the total allowable catch before the beginning of each fishing year, for each species of fish for the fishing year.

Fishing year is defined in the plan as a period of 12 months beginning on 1 December in any year.

Regulation Impact Statement

The Office of Regulation review (ORR) advised AFMA that a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is not required for the setting of the 2006/07 TACs (ORR ID 8836).

Consultation

Section 11 of the Management Plan outlines the procedures for determining the TACs and catch limits, in particular the requirement to consult and consider the view of Sub-Antarctic Resource Assessment Group (SARAG) and the Sub-Antarctic Fisheries Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC). The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) prescribed a TACs and catch limits which were reviewed by the Sub-Antarctic Resource Assessment Group (SARAG) and the Sub-Antarctic Fisheries Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC). Subsequently, SouthMAC and SARAG recommended that the TACs and catch limits be adopted. The AFMA Board consulted with both SARAG and SouthMAC and took their views into account in deciding the TACs and the catch limit.